Multimode, multifunction wristwatches (or wrist instruments) having a display, a lamp for illuminating the display, manually actuatable switches and an integrated circuit are well-known. Examples of such wristwatches include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,783,773 (Houlihan et al.), 4,780,864 (Houlihan) and 4,283,784 (Horan), all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In the foregoing patents, which are merely exemplary of multimode electronic wrist instruments, one of the manually actuatable switches serves to repetitively cycle the wrist instrument through the various operating modes or states in a predetermined sequence, where each operating mode differs from the other operating modes by the type of information displayed. Such operating modes as time-of-day (TOD), chronograph (CHRONO), alternate time zone (T2), alarm setting (ALARM) and elapsed time (TIMER) are typically provided. While in any of these operating modes, another manually actuatable switch may be employed to change the information being displayed in that operating mode or state, such as initiating the chronograph timing or setting the alarm time.
As watches have come to incorporate more powerful integrated circuits, the number of operating modes provided by watches has proliferated. For example, today, it is not unusual for an electronic wrist instrument to provide, in addition to the operating modes listed above, a calculator (CALC) mode, a speedometer (SPEED) mode and a pulsometer (PULSE) mode. The problem with having so many operating modes is that since only one operating mode can be displayed at a time (due to limited display space), it is necessary to cycle through the predetermined sequence of operating modes to engage an operating mode other than the one in which the watch is then operating. To illustrate this, let's assume that a wrist instrument has the following predetermined sequence of operating modes: TOD - CHRONO - TIMER - ALARM - T2 - CALC - SPEED - PULSE. If the wrist instrument is in the TOD mode and a user desires to know the alternate time zone time, the user must cycle through CHRONO, TIMER and ALARM to obtain the information he/she seeks. As is apparent, cycling through the predetermined sequence each and every time information is desired from an operating mode other than the then engaged operating mode can be time consuming and frustrating to the user of the wrist instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,188 (Thinesen), which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, partially addresses the above problem. The '188 patent discloses a multimode electronic timepiece in which the user may directly "peek" at a second operating mode (which is preselected) from a specific first operating mode without cycling through the predetermined sequence of operating modes. The integrated circuit of the '188 parent's timepiece is programmed to display the preselected second operating mode upon actuation of a designated manually actuatable switch from the first operating mode. When the designated switch is released (so that the switch closure is no longer made), the timepiece reverts back to displaying the first operating mode. For example, let's assume that the preselected second operating mode is the T2 mode, the specific first operating mode is the TOD mode, the designated switch is S1, and the timepiece is currently in the TOD mode. If the user actuates S1, the timepiece will display the information in T2. When the user releases S1, the timepiece will go back to displaying TOD. Although the '188 parent's "peek" function overcomes the problem of having to cycle through unwanted operating modes to view, from a specific operating mode, the information contained in a preselected operating mode, it does not address the problem of having to cycle through unwanted operating modes to view, from any operating mode, the information contained in the preselected operating mode.
Why can't the '188 parent's "peek" function be applied so that it becomes possible to view, from any operating mode, the information contained in a preselected operating mode? The answer is very simple: design and cost constraints. To designate a specific switch to each operating mode for "peeking" purposes would be very difficult given the limited space available on a watch. For example, for a multimode electronic wristwatch having eight different operating modes, there would have to be seven manually actuatable switches to allow "peeking" from any operating mode (note that there is one less switch than the number of operating modes since no switch is needed for the preselected operating mode). As the number of available operating modes increases, there would have to be a likewise increase in the number of switches. Also, even assuming that a watch can be designed somehow to accommodate numerous switches, there would be an increase in manufacturing cost attributable to the incorporation of the various extra switches (not to mention the increased complexity of use and decreased aesthetic appeal caused by having numerous manually actuatable switches). Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to provide a multimode electronic wrist instrument which permits viewing, from any operating mode, the information contained in a preselected operating mode without the need to cycle through unwanted operating modes.
Another object of the invention is to provide a multimode electronic wrist instrument which permits viewing, from any operating mode, the information contained in a preselected operating mode with at most, a minimal increase in the number of components.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a multimode electronic wrist instrument which permits viewing, from any operating mode, the information contained in a preselected operating mode with, at most, a minimal increase in the complexity of use to the user.